How to organize a webapp?

Question

I'm starting my first webapp, and I'm not sure how things typically are done. I'm using Django and Apache:

1. How do you manage a source control repository? Do you check out to a separate folder, and then have a build script that copies files over? What exactly should be added to the repository? In other words, how do you make sure that you don't commit auto-generated files? (it's sometimes hard to tell what's auto-generated and what I just haven't figured out yet :)

2. How do I first deploy to a private development page, and then deploy to the main page when ready? Can I set up two servers? If so, how?

I know these are kinda newbie questions, but I can't seem to find a good tutorial that really explains these fundamental issues.

Answer 1

I would have a development copy which would be a checkout from my repository. On the live site I would have exports (as opposed to checkouts) of tagged versions and I would name the directory these exports are in with the tag name "project-v1.4.5" for example. I would then have a symlink to point to the currently active tag. This allows you to go back to an older version a lot more easily if you find problems after going live with a new tag.

If you're using SVN I recommend you read (http://svnbook.red-bean.com/) the SVN book's sections on Fundamental Concepts and Tags (in the Branching and Merging chapter).

SVN allows you to ignore files you don't want committing http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.5/svn.advanced.props.special.ignore.html

Answer 2

with git you can set up a private branch and have selected files persist in that branch only (for example - to maintain your local configs and templates). I've asked a similar question before. With this setup updating your app and pushing your changes to the public branch is trivial.